Sriracha Is Way More Unhealthy Than You Realized

If you have an affinity for spicy foods, Sriracha is probably a staple condiment in your diet.

I've always considered Sriracha to be the Khaleesi of condiments.

Because let's be real, the sizzling sauce clearly contains some sort of sorcerous dragon powers that instantly turn your shitty bland snacks into a fiery gift from the food gods.

However, this heavenly hot sauce might not be as healthy as you originally thought.

It appears that Rooster Sauce has been betraying us this whole damn time by making us think it's a healthy topping, when in reality, this sneaky sauce is actually filled with a shit ton of sugar and salt.

And here I thought we were friends, Sriracha. SMDH.

If you flip that red bottle over and take a look at the nutrition label on the back, you'll find a list of ingredients that include chili, sugar, salt, garlic, distilled vinegar, potassium sorbate, sodium bisulfite and xantham gum.

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After chili, sugar and salt are the most prevalent ingredients in this sauce.

In fact, Sriracha contains about 1 gram of sugar and 100 milligrams of sodium per teaspoon.

To put that into perspective for you, ketchup contains about the same amount of sugar (1.2 grams per teaspoon) and half the sodium (51 milligrams) of Sriracha.

So yeah, I hate to break it to you, but you haven't been doing yourself a favor by swapping out the ketchup for this spicy sauce.

Sriracha also contains more sugar per teaspoon than marinara sauce, which typically gets a pretty bad rap for being notoriously high in sugar.

Even honey mustard — yes, something with the word honey in its damn name! — is a healthier option than Sriracha because this sweet condiment has no sugar and only contains 57 milligrams of sodium per teaspoon.

Now, when you make the disturbing realization that we all smother our food in Sriracha rather than sticking to the pitiful recommended serving size of 1 small-ass teaspoon, things start to look pretty bad for our "healthy" eating habits.

If you're still not convinced Sriracha is a satanic sauce that's determined to sabotage your diet, Sweetgreen even nixed Sriracha —along with BACON — from its healthy menu back in May.

However, this bad news doesn't mean your world has to suddenly become bland and boring.

You can simply add some spice to your life by switching out your Sriracha for some healthy homemade salsa, or a delectable dash of Tabasco sauce.

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You can also add a pinch of cayenne pepper to your food or sprinkle your snacks with dried chilis to add a kick of flavor to your cuisine.